Regarding Iraq: A Reminder
author: No Excuses
Congress just issued a report blaming the war on faulty intelligence. Said one senator, "If we had known, we never would have authorized this war."
How about that.
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About a year and a half ago, I stood with many of you in the north park blocks on a cold, gray morning, preparing to march without a permit. Shivering, we stood together, shoulder to shoulder with thousands -- no, millions -- of people throughout the Earth. In every city in the world, people rose up against the war we were all being dragged into against our will. In Lisbon, Rome, New York, Mexico City, and everywhere in between, the people were screaming to be heard. A million people marched in London that day.
Here in Portland, as in every other city, we declared ourselves against the war. Before the march, people began climbing up onto a park bench to address each other. One by one, we stood up there, no notes in hand, no prepared speeches, no megaphones. With only our voices, we spoke from our hearts. And we listened to each other, even if the world's leaders and the corporate media seemed to be turning a deaf ear.
The thing I remember most about that morning was a woman who stood up with a child at her side. She reminded us that we stood in solidarity with all the frightened children in Iraq who would soon have bombs raining down upon them. And she told the crowd that she had come to the march that day because she wanted the world to know, and she wanted our children to know, "We were here. And We Said No."
Indeed. Even as the US government beat the drums of war and the corporate media played cheerleader to disaster, WE SAID NO. We paid a high price for speaking up as we did. That day, as has happened so often in our city, the police attacked us with chemical weapons and violence. The corporate media justified the attacks upon us -- we were, after all, the troublemakers. Why weren't we proudly donning flag lapel pins and "standing behind the president" the way they were doing? Didn't we "support our troops"?
What a difference a few thousand dead bodies have made. Today I understand that congress is crying foul. The intelligence regarding WMDs in Iraq was wrong. We went to war under false pretenses. So says a scathing report on what went awry. Thousands of dead people later, congress is passing the buck, declaring that they were deceived by faulty intelligence. They're blaming everyone but themselves for the fiasco. And the "imbedded" reporters are starting to look a little sheepish finally too. It is as if they're finally sobering up -- far too late. As they discreetly shake off their flag lapen pins, they pretend they didn't drop the ball. They pretend they never took the wrong side. They pretend we never bled in our streets trying to get them to tell the truth. They pretend it wasn't their fault. While bodies pile up like cord wood and blood runs through the streets of Baghdad, the corporate media drags out pundits and politicians to analyze how we could have gotten it all so wrong.
Well I want to remind the corporate media, and congress, and anyone who will listen: We did not get it wrong. They did. While they caved, one by one, to bushCo's idiotic banter, We were there, and We said No.
We, the people, never asked congress to authorize this awful destruction. On the contrary, we begged them not to. But they refused to hear us. We never believed in WMDs in Iraq. We never believed the thick, imbecilic words of george w bush. We never believed the war was justified or justifiable. And we told them so. WE SAID NO.
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The question is which fish is it?